throbber
Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 44 Filed 08/25/16 Page 1 of 3 PageID #: 710
`
`M O R R I S , N I C H O L S , A R S H T & T U N N E L L L L P
`1201 NORTH MARKET STREET
`P.O. BOX 1347
`WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19899-1347
`
`(302) 658-9200
`(302) 658-3989 FAX
`
`JACK B. BLUMENFELD
`(302) 351-9291
`jblumenfeld@mnat.com
`
`
`
`The Honorable Richard G. Andrews
`United States District Court
` for the District of Delaware
`844 N. King Street
`Wilmington, DE 19801
`
`
`Re:
`
`August 25, 2016
`
`VIA ELECTRONIC FILING
`
`Sound View Innovations, LLC v. Facebook, Inc.
`C.A. No. 16-116 (RGA)
`
`
`Dear Judge Andrews:
`
`
`Facebook submits this response to Sound View’s August 24, 2016 letter for the discovery
`dispute telephone conference scheduled for tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. With its initial infringement
`contentions due tomorrow and Facebook’s initial invalidity contentions due four weeks later,
`Sound View seeks to remove the Scheduling Order’s agreed upon limitation of “[n]o more than
`20 total claims” and place no limit on how many of the 138 claims of the patents-in-suit it can
`assert.
`
`
`There was nothing inadvertent about the inclusion of the agreement that “[n]o more than
`20 total claims shall be asserted by Plaintiff” in the Scheduling Order. Sound View’s assertion
`that it did not notice the provision until August 12 is troubling given that the “[n]o more than 20
`total claims” language was included, unchanged, in four drafts of the Scheduling Order
`exchanged between Sound View and Facebook, and was never disputed. Sound View’s counsel
`then twice filed proposed Scheduling Orders that included the now disputed language,
`effectively representing to the Court that it had agreed that “[n]o more than 20 total claims shall
`be asserted by Plaintiff.”
`
`
`Facebook included the “[n]o more than 20 total claims” language in its first revision of
`the draft scheduling order to focus the issues in the case early. As set forth below, Facebook’s
`agreement to many of the provisions in the Scheduling Order was predicated on the agreement
`that “[n]o more than 20 total claims” would be asserted. Reversing course now to allow Sound
`View to assert at least 49 claims, and potentially many more, would substantially expand this
`case and further burden the Court and the parties.
`
`
`

`
`Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 44 Filed 08/25/16 Page 2 of 3 PageID #: 711
`The Honorable Richard G. Andrews
`August 25, 2016
`Page 2
`
`A timeline of the parties’ negotiations illustrates that the inclusion of the “[n]o more than
`20 total claims” language in the Scheduling Order was not “inadvertent.”
`
`May 20 – Sound View sent Facebook a proposed scheduling order. (Ex. A). The parties
`met and conferred and Facebook agreed to provide revisions to the draft order.
`
`May 31 – Facebook sent a revised proposed order that includes the “[n]o more than 20
`total claims” language. (Ex. B). Later that day, Facebook and Sound View met and conferred
`about Facebook’s revisions. Following the meet and confer, Sound View circulated a redline
`over Facebook’s revisions to the proposed order, which also included the “[n]o more than 20
`total claims” language. (Ex. C). Sound View’s revisions demonstrated that it had made a careful
`review of Facebook’s draft. Indeed, in the paragraph directly above the “[n]o more than 20 total
`claims” language, Sound View objected to Facebook’s inclusion of a footnote as shown in the
`following excerpt:
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`(Ex. C at 10).
`
`June 1 – The parties exchanged additional emails regarding Sound View’s May 31 draft.
`(Ex. D). Sound View’s counsel then filed the proposed Scheduling Order with the Court
`including the “[n]o more than 20 total claims” language. (D.I. 18)
`
`June 3 – At the Scheduling Conference, the parties discussed a number of provisions of
`the proposed Scheduling Order, including items on the same page as the “[n]o more than 20 total
`claims” language, but Sound View never raised that language as a dispute. (Id.)
`
`June 9 –Facebook sent a revised draft of the proposed order to Sound View, again
`including the “[n]o more than 20 total claims” language. (Ex. E.) The parties conducted a meet
`and confer later that day. Sound View’s counsel then circulated another draft of the proposed
`order, still including the “[n]o more than 20 total claims” language. (Ex. F.)
`
`June 10 – Sound View filed the revised proposed Scheduling Order it had circulated on
`June 9, again including the “[n]o more than 20 total claims” language. (D.I. 20)
`
`

`
`Case 1:16-cv-00116-RGA Document 44 Filed 08/25/16 Page 3 of 3 PageID #: 712
`The Honorable Richard G. Andrews
`August 25, 2016
`Page 3
`
`
`
`June 13 – The Court entered the Scheduling Order with the “[n]o more than 20 total
`claims” language. (D.I. 21)
`
`August 12 –Sound View’s counsel contacted Facebook’s counsel claiming that it had just
`discovered the “[n]o more than 20 total claims” language.
`
`As can be seen from the timeline above, the “[n]o more than 20 total claims” language
`was included in Facebook’s first set of revisions to Sound View’s proposed Scheduling Order,
`and in every revision thereafter, including in two separate filings by Sound View’s counsel, and
`was entered more than two months ago.
`
`During this time, Facebook believed that Sound View had agreed to focus this case on
`“[n]o more than 20 total claims.” Sound View had represented to Facebook and to the Court that
`it “agreed to streamline the discovery process and really focus in on the issues” rather than
`“scorch the earth” in this case. (June 3, 2016 Tr. at 5:14-17). Moreover, Facebook’s agreement
`to the timing of invalidity contentions, discovery limits and claim construction briefing limits
`were all predicated on an understanding that this case was limited to “[n]o more than 20 total
`claims.” If Sound View were now permitted to expand the case up to at least 49 claims or as
`many as 138 claims, many provisions in the Scheduling Order will need to be revisited.
`
`Sound View identifies no reason why this Court should expand the number of asserted
`claims beyond the “20 total claims” Sound View already agreed to. Facebook believes that “[n]o
`more than 20 total claims” are sufficient. Facebook respectfully requests that Sound View’s
`request to modify the Scheduling Order be denied.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Respectfully,
`
`/s/ Jack B. Blumenfeld
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Jack B. Blumenfeld (#1014)
`
`
`JBB/dlw
`Enclosures
`cc:
`Clerk of Court (Via Hand Delivery; w/ encl.)
`
`All Counsel of Record (Via Electronic Mail; w/ encl.)

This document is available on Docket Alarm but you must sign up to view it.


Or .

Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.

After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.

Accept $ Charge
throbber

Still Working On It

This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.

Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.

throbber

A few More Minutes ... Still Working

It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.

Thank you for your continued patience.

This document could not be displayed.

We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

Set your membership status to view this document.

With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll get a whole lot more, including:

  • Up-to-date information for this case.
  • Email alerts whenever there is an update.
  • Full text search for other cases.
  • Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.

Become a Member

One Moment Please

The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.

Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.

Your document is on its way!

If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.

Sealed Document

We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.

If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.


Access Government Site

We are redirecting you
to a mobile optimized page.





Document Unreadable or Corrupt

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket

We are unable to display this document.

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket